My GGGrandmother was Guro Kolve. She married Gulick Kolve in Dane County, Wisconsin in the 1860's. She died in 1912 and her obit. said that she was born in Norway in Apr. 1834 and that she had a twin brother living in Oakland, California. He may have been named Ole Nelson or Ole Nielson Mossefin. I would like to know for sure who their parents were and more about them. Thanks. Jon

Hi, Jon. My great-grandfather was Ole Nelson, also known as Ole Nielssen Mossefin! I just started looking into the genealogy about a month ago and until yesterday I had no idea that other children from that family had come to the United States from Norway. I'm pretty sure that Ole and Juro's parents were Niels Gunderson Mossefin and Magli Mikkelsdatter. I stumbled upon some posts just yesterday from 1998 and was glad to happen upon yours here today. The post from 98 by Shirley Vinsand was the first I'd heard about all of the other children in the family besides the twins. I do have a few records about Ole which I will be glad to share. Ole married Ellen Edmunds of Norway and had 6 surviving children. The eldest was my grandfather, Edmund, and he had 4 surviving children, the youngest of whom was my dad. The 4 sons had 8, 3, 6 and 4 kids respectively and we of that generation have gone on to have children (and 2 of my siblings already have grandchildren) of our own. For the most part we are in California. Ole did come out to California during the Gold Rush. And he did eventually acquire a mine. But it was never productive and he ended up farming like his father before him. Ole's kids were all born in the Sierras in Northern California. Look forward to hearing more about the family.

Hi Linda, it's great to hear from you and to know that I have the correct family in my tree. A woman in California found some of the info for me and she has come to my aid more than once which I am always thankful for. I know Shirley Vinsand and went to see her down in Iowa in 2007. We met her brothers and some family members and we also visited with some of the distant cousins that I knew when I was young. There was more interest in staying in touch back then and my mother was responsible for us getting to know everyone. We live in Wisconsin so the trip isn't far for a visit and I hope to go back this summer.
I would love to see any info that you have and also ask you to visit my "Paulson Family Tree" if you are able to access it. Your grandfather, Edmund, is included in it, but of course I don't have alot of dates unless they are in the census reports. If you can't get into my tree, please let me know and I will provide you with any info I can. If you can bring it up you will see there is alot to look at with some startling relationships which I came across in the last year.
Thanks so much for writing and please stay in touch.

Jon

Hi, Jon. It was great to hear from you. I'm not sure how to access your Paulson family tree. Any advice you could share? And I'd be more than happy to share what info I have. Some years ago there was an article in a magazine called True West featuring Ole and his dream of gold mining. I will get help from my husband in scanning and posting that. Do you have any family photographs on your tree? I have never seen one of Ole. Are there any of the twins? I called my sister and my brothers to tell them I had found a long lost cousin and they were very happy to hear it. Do you know anything about the parents of Niels or Magdeli? And I am so curious to know about the startling connections you have discovered. Look forward to hearing from you.

Lin Nelson Benedek

Lin, have you started a family tree on Ancestry.com yet? If you have, you can go down the right side of the page and click on people that are looking for the same person, then you can access their tree that way. If not, you may go to Family Trees and try to find the Paulson Family Tree that way. I guess I will think on this a bit longer and try to find another way for you to connect with my tree. I will work on this and get back to you, but if you start a tree you will certainly find mine. I will keep in touch!
I have a photo of a drawing of Guro that was taken many years ago. I don't know who has it now, but I will post it on my tree in time. I do not have a photo of Ole.
I do have Ole and Guro's parents (and you are correct, they are Niel and Magdelie) and the history on them is on my tree. Ole and Guro's sister was Brithe and she lived in Iowa which is why we had relatives there. I will go into this more when I have time, but I have alot of double cousins as a result of this union. Shirley Vinsand said that is why the family has bad eyesight. You probably have good eyes as you are not affected by the same connections as we are here in the midwest. I am kidding because I don't know if that really had any affect on anyone. I don't think it did here in Wisconsin, but they sure thought so in Iowa. I will wait to see if you can access my tree.
Thanks for writing back, as I said, I will make any info you want available to you.

Jon

Good News! I was able to view your tree. I am so happy that you've traced it back some more generations. The double cousin phenomenon is very interesting. I know that on my mom's side of the family (English and Irish mostly) we have our share of cousin marriages. And who knows? Maybe further back on the Norwegian side as well. I would love to see the photographs some day that you have access to. I don't know how to post non-Ancestry.com documents yet but I'll have my husband teach me. Do you know of any letters from Norway? Or other family documents? I have a copy of a letter vouching for Ole's good character that came from parish records. And some form that was submitted somewhere when he came to America. And that's about it. I'm going to contact some of my cousins here and see if there's anything else. Thank you so much for all of your good work on this and for generously sharing it. One of my favorite discoveries in your tree was the way they chose names for the twins-- from Niels's mom's name. I'm learning some things about Norway that I never knew. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Lin

Lin,
I can't take credit for the early information in my tree. Most of what I have came from a book called "The Andrew K. Vinsand Family in America" written (or compiled) by Charles Chantland and Ruth Johnson in 1984. My mother and I both bought a copy back then and although I was interested in it I never thought about doing anything more until the last few years. It would have been good to start asking questions when there were still people around to answer them. That always seems to be the case. I have very little documentation, but I do spend alot of time in the Digital Archives of Norway where the information is endless. You may want to do some searching there, as well. My entire family history is Norwegian so, at least, that helps to understand the people better, the name changes and family connections, etc.
I will be in touch. I'm so glad that you found my tree, it is a constant work in progress.
Jon

Hi Lin,
I was wondering if you could provide me with any death dates, specifically of Ole and Ellen, and of Edward and any of his brothers. I have found what I have in the census reports and that's about it. I'm just glad we were able to make this connection. When I get more added to my tree I will let you know. Thanks for any info you might have.

Jon

Hi, Jon.
You know the only date I have is for Edmund: May 5, 1964. He was an absolutely wonderful person. And so was my great uncle Tom, his brother. Uncle Tom had a cabin near the mine that Ole acquired on Silver Mountain. I never got to meet the other ones but Ed used to talk about them and about his little sister Lena who had died when she was only seven. The story was that she had Scarlet Fever. Ellen went into the forest to search for an herb that was used in Norway to cure it but that plant doesn't grow in California. He also told a story about Ellen protecting her children from a charging ram by picking it up by the horns and tossing him on his back. I wish we had written down all of his stories. He had a rustic cabin which he built with his four sons about 1930 in Yosemite, where we'd go every summer. He was a real mountain man. Also a lawyer. I'll try to get some more of those dates. I, too, am so glad to have made the connection.
More soon. Lin

Lin,
What a great post! They must have lived quite a life there in the Sierras. It brought back alot of memories for me as I lived in Fresno from 1986-1990 and went to Yosemite several times during that period. I loved it up there and have many nice photos from my trips. I took my parents there as well as friends and relatives that came to visit me in California. It's too bad we didn't know eachother then. I never thought of having any family (distant or otherwise) in that part of the country.
More to you later.
Jon